Chapter 222
Chapter 222
Charles sat at his computer desk, hands clasped under his chin, staring intently at the eerie painting on his screen. He looked like a statue, lost in deep thought.
He saved the image and backed it up on several USB drives before sending it to his contact, Opossum Outlaw, hoping he could dig up some useful information.
Charles spent the entire afternoon sifting through data. By the time he looked up, the sunlight outside had turned a warm orange, signaling the arrival of dusk. Opossum Outlaw had sent him a detailed compressed file, containing extensive information about a secretive underground organization known as the Shadow Syndicate.
After thoroughly reading through the documents, Charles learned that the Shadow Syndicate was a deeply hidden underground force. Its current leader, Silver Sentinel, was set to hold a crucial secret meeting tonight in an old mansion hidden in the bustling northern part of Emerald City.
Silver Sentinel traveled with forty bodyguards—four visible and thirty-six hidden, protecting him in ways that were nearly impossible to detect.
This mission required Charles to identify and deal with these threats independently.
The file from Opossum Outlaw also included detailed maps and architectural layouts of the old mansion and its surroundings, meticulously detailed.
Charles committed all this information to memory and began carefully planning his course of action.
If he wanted to have a "friendly" chat with Silver Sentinel, his first task was to eliminate those troublesome bodyguards.
Silently taking out thirty men in a complex environment was a relatively simple task for Charles. After all, he once held the single-kill record for the Kismet Order.
The real challenge of this mission was that the entire operation had to be swift and covert. Any mistake could alert Silver Sentinel inside the mansion.
This was undoubtedly a test of his professional skills to the limit.
Since leaving the blood-soaked and chaotic borderlands, Charles hadn't undertaken such a high-risk mission in a long time. This kind of precise, high-stakes task felt a bit unfamiliar to him now.
After so long, his reflexes were no longer as sharp as they were in his teenage years.
At sixteen, he could judge the trajectory and distance of a bullet with his naked eye and dodge it with lightning speed. Now, approaching thirty, he couldn't match that agility.
But years of experience had made his eyes sharper and his mind more mature.
After confirming the time and place of the operation, he packed only the necessary gear and funds and headed to the northern part of Emerald City for a reconnaissance.
The northern part of Emerald City was a stark contrast to the south, shrouded in a murky haze where crime and darkness were as pervasive as the night. The police presence was weak, often overwhelmed by the rampant crime, and usually chose to turn a blind eye unless it was a major case or a matter of life and death.
Upon arriving near the old mansion, Charles strolled through the surrounding streets, sampling street food while scouting for the best vantage points.
He slipped into narrow alleys and climbed onto abandoned rooftops, searching for a spot that offered a clear view of the mansion's entrance without being easily noticed.
After finishing his reconnaissance, he chose an unremarkable tavern, sitting in a corner on the second floor, quietly waiting for nightfall.
From this angle, he had a clear view of the mansion's front door, and it was also an excellent hidden observation point.
Around eleven o'clock, a low-key yet luxurious black car slowly pulled up to the mansion's entrance. Charles caught a glimpse of the license plate and smirked slightly.
He knew his target for this mission had arrived.